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NEWPORT — The Newport City Council heard on March 3 updates on funding asks and the formation of a countywide emergency medical services district.
Newport did not receive funding from the Washington State Department of Ecology.
Ecology got $400 million in requests for funding from Newport and other entities, but only had $127 million to award. So, city administrator Abby Gribi said the department prioritized funding construction with bids put out.
“We did not make the initial construction list,” Gribi said.
Regardless, Newport is forming a team with the Department of Ecology and the Public Works Board to find other means of funding and perhaps partner with other funding agencies.
The city is “still working through” the funding it received last year, Gribi said.
Though Newport did not receive funding from the Department of Ecology, it did from the Department of Health — $852,000 for wastewater reservoir rehabilitation from its Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
“More to come, but I did get confirmation that that has been approved,” Gribi said. “We just don’t know how much will be forgivable.”
After the ongoing legislative session, Rep. Hunter Abell is taking a tour of Newport’s wastewater reservoir.
Its rehabilitation is one part of a three-part funding ask. The other two parts are for engineering and a geotechnical water study, Gribi said.
“We may be able to get those on more of a grant basis rather than loan,” she said.
Robert Rosencrantz, Pend Oreille County commissioner, updated the council on its consideration to form a countywide EMS district. He said his comments were “a first touch for where the county commissioners are now and where we might be going.”
The county Board of Commissioners solicited input from all county municipalities and fire districts on what the board is to ask of the Municipal Research and Services Center.
The board reached an agreement on those questions on March 3 and sent them to MRSC the following day. Once it has MRSC’s answers, the board will share them with Newport, other cities and the fire districts, “then have a discussion of what we believe really represents the best interests of the county as a whole,” Rosencrantz said.
That discussion may involve the long-term sustainability of providing advanced life support services, whether the county will be “wellserved” by ALS, whether the county can afford ALS outside of the fire districts and what role a countywide EMS district would play in providing ALS, Rosencrantz said.
If the district forms, Newport could decide to opt-in or out of it.
“Right now, where we are is, we’re considering it,” he said. “There are lots of questions that need to be answered.”
In other business, the council motioned to repeal the volunteer fire department and parks advisory committee, which are no longer in operation.
The council also agreed to allow the Newport Creative District to post directional signage in the city — one on Highway 2 by the Pend Oreille County Museum, one on Highway 2 by the traffic light on the Idaho-Washington border and one on Highway 20 by the Department of Natural Resources’ Newport office.
Mayor Keith Campbell said the city will start working on some streets this year, with certain potholes slated for work.
